According to their hydrophobicity degree, organic substances can increase the aggregate stability, reducing the rate of water infiltration into the aggregates. Our study investigated the aggregate genesis and stabilization in a Red-Yellow Latosol under organic compound addition with distinct hydrophobic and hydrophilic characteristics. Air-dried samples from the A and B horizons were incubated with different doses of three organic compounds: estearic acid, amid and humic acid purified in accordance to the International Humic Substances Society. The experiment was organized with […]

Brazilian literature lacks data on soil and water loss by water erosion in perennial crops although such data would be essential for conservation planning and erosion modeling studies. Data of soil and water loss under natural rainfall (July 1960 to June 1972) in Pindorama, State of São Paulo, Brazil, were used to calculate the soil loss ratio (SLR) and C factor for the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) in coffee (Coffea arabica L.) planted in five spacings (3.0 x 0.5 m, 3.0 x 1.0 m, 3.0 x 2.0 m, […]

The behavior of glyphosate in a Rhodic Oxisol, collected from fields under no-till and conventional management systems in Ponta Grossa, Parana state (Brazil) was investigated. Both agricultural systems had been in production for 23 years. Glyphosate mineralization, soil-bound forms, sorption and desorption kinetics, sorption/desorption batch experiments, and soil glyphosate phythoavailability (to Panicum maximum) were determined. The mineralization experiment was set up in a completely randomized design with a 2 x 2 factorial scheme (two management systems and two 14C radiolabelled positions in the […]

From a conceptual model based on fractal geometry and Laplace’s and Poiseuille’s laws, a versatile and general fractal model for the hydraulic conductivity to be used in the soils was developed. The soil-moisture retention curve is derived from a power model. Due to the fact that the proposed model of hydraulic conductivity introduces a still unknown interpolation parameter, which in turn is a function of soil properties, its limiting values were considered for the analysis. To apply the model in […]

The input of organic compounds in agriculture and the soil wetting and drying cycles have a strong influence on soil aggregation. This study investigated the effect of incubation periods and the influence of wetting and drying cycles with the addition of organic compounds of distinct hydrophobic and hydrophilic characteristics on the aggregation of a Red-Yellow Latosol. The experiments were arranged in an incomplete factorial design 2 x 3[(4-1) + (4-1)]. The factors were: air-dried soil of A and B horizons, three incubation periods (40, […]

Biossolid has been used in agriculture as nutrient source and to improve soil physical attributes. The effect of biossolid on the aggregate stability and soil penetration resistance of a medium texture Oxisol (LVd) and clayey Oxisol (LVef) in Jaboticabal (SP) were evaluated. Dry biosolid mass was applied with a harrow at rates of 0.0, 25.0, 47.5, 50.0 Mg ha-1, incorporated at 0.1 m depth before sowing the maize. Samples were collected in the fifth year after the maize harvest from the 0.0-0.1, 0.1-0.2, […]

The natural behavior of a set of soils that becomes hard, very hard or extremely hard when dry and friable when wet is being studied in many parts of the world. In Brazil, soils with this behavior are known as “cohesive soil” or “soil with cohesive horizon”. Objective of this study was to evaluate the behavior of soils with a cohesive horizon in Coastal Tableland areas of Ceara State by means of the following physical parameters: tensile strength (RT), penetration […]

Fertilizer recommendations for banana plantations should be technically sound and, mainly, more adjustable on a scientific base than the usual recommendation tables. A system was developed to estimate recommendable nutrient doses for banana (FERTICALC®-Bananeira), by means of modeling nutrient balance. This nutrient balance is obtained by the difference between the crop nutrient demand and supply through soil and plant residues. When the demand is higher than the supply, fertilizer application is recommended; when it is lower or equal to the […]

The objective of this work was to quantify and characterize the spatio-temporal variability and the temporal stability of water storage in a yellow Latosol under citrus cultivation. The experimental plot was installed on a soil under a 10 years old citrus crop, consisting of 40 observation points along two transects in a 4 m x 7 m spacing, that is, two parallel transects 1 and 2 (two plant rows) spaced 7 m with 20 points each 4 m apart, encompassing a 80 x 14 m land area (40 plants). Each point […]

Soil and geomorphic surfaces were studied on a sandstone/basalt hillslope segment, commonly found in the Jaboticabal region (NW São Paulo State). Main objectives were to relate the geomorphic surfaces with chemical, physical and mineralogical properties of Oxisols and to apply geostatistic methods as a helping tool for their automatic location. Soils were sampled at depths of 0.6 to 0.8 m (upper B-horizons) in a 1,700 m long transect at regular 25 m intervals, amounting to 109 sampling sites. Soil samples were analyzed for particle […]